Cohen & Steers Inc. Grows Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,051 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 752.8% during the 4th quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 73,590 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its holdings in Comcast by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 3,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robinson Value Management Ltd. raised its position in Comcast by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Up 0.7 %

CMCSA stock opened at $34.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.20 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The firm has a market cap of $130.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.29, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CMCSA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Comcast from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.50.

Comcast Profile

Comcast Corporation operates as a media and technology company worldwide. It operates through Residential Connectivity & Platforms, Business Services Connectivity, Media, Studios, and Theme Parks segments. The Residential Connectivity & Platforms segment provides residential broadband and wireless connectivity services, residential and business video services, sky-branded entertainment television networks, and advertising.